News

Bob Beauprez enters governor's race to dismay of some rivals

By Lynn BartelsThe Denver Post

Posted:
03/04/2014 07:00:12 AM MST

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez makes a point during his presentation to delegates at the District II Republican caucus held at Angevine Middle School in Lafayette, Colo., on Tuesday, March 4, 2014. (David Zalubowski, AP)

Seven Republicans are vying to unseat Democrat John Hickenlooper in November, all echoing the theme that he has leadership issues. Besides Beauprez, Kopp and Tancredo, also running are state Sen. Greg Brophy, Secretary of State Scott Gessler, businessman Steve House and rancher Roni Bell Sylvester.

Tancredo, who served in Congress with Beauprez, said he has no problem with Beauprez getting into the race and called him a "man of integrity." Tancredo said he told Beauprez last year he would step aside if Beauprez wanted to run for governor, but Beauprez kept saying he wasn't interested until it was too late.

"I said, 'There's no way I can get out, Bob. I have almost 7,000 contributors. Just get in. You might be the savior of the Republican Party. We'll find out,' " Tancredo said.

Brophy was among those critical of Beauprez's decision.

"Beauprez's entry into the race kind of brings to a head the question: Are we going to try to re-brand our party as the fiscally responsible live-and-let live party, or are we going to go back to the party of the mid-2000s?" Brophy asked.

"To make it worse, everybody acknowledges that Bob ran a horrible campaign in '06, and he starts the campaign ... by filing his paperwork from Washington, D.C. It appears that nothing has changed," Brophy said.

A. Colorado deserves better than what we've been getting. There's been a noticeable lack of leadership. That's the key to this. You wonder if anybody is really in charge. Morning after morning, your newspaper keeps telling us that things aren't going well, not by any stretch of the imagination. That tells me there's a weakness in management. There's a disconnect. Somebody's not paying attention. CDOT explains away a 10-hour traffic jam by saying it's the drivers' fault.

Q.Your fellow Republicans running for governor have been saying the same things about Hickenlooper - some of them for months. Aren't any of them good enough?

A. They're all friends of mine. But it appears to me that Coloradans, especially on our side of the aisle, are looking for another choice. This is about defeating John Hickenlooper. It's about making sure that we give voters an option of somebody who has the vision, the credibility, the experience to get the job done.

Q.Granted, when you ran for governor in 2006 it was a Democratic wave year, but even Republicans said you weren't a good candidate. How would you change that?

A. Yes, we made some serious mistakes. You learn from your mistakes. We recognize that. You get yourself up, you dust yourself off, you start all over again. I've had almost eight years to do that.

Q.Give some examples of your "serious mistakes."

A. We didn't have a team that was necessarily very cohesive. We didn't fully understand the angst out there. People weren't very happy with politicians in general and Republicans specifically. There was a lot of animosity toward George W. Bush and Republicans. And it was difficult to try to do the job I was elected to do in Congress and then fly home for three or four days and try to campaign statewide. I won't be challenged by any of that.

Q.So far in 2014 it appears that having an "R" behind your name is a good thing.

A. The environment has shifted, but that's not enough, and I don't expect it to be enough. We have to make our case.

Q. Both Democrats and Republicans have questioned whether you can meet the March 31 deadline to petition onto the ballot. Can it be done?

A. We'll get it done. I know it's a challenge. But I wanted to see this convention process through before announcing. (Denver is bidding to land the Republican National Convention in 2016). We have now done that.

Q.Why vote for Bob Beauprez?

A. I think experience matters. I know some people think of me as a politician. I was in office for four years. The rest of that time, I was in a family business. I think my experience in a variety of businesses - mostly as a community banker, sitting on the other side of that desk - I know it prepared me very well. When I was in Congress I saw an enormous dearth of real-world experience among elected officials.

Q. Gov. Hickenlooper is a formidable candidate who is liked by the Republican business community.

A. He's liked by some. Every governor in Colorado is liked by people on both sides of the aisle because they're governor. But I don't think there's much dispute that our economy could be doing better, our job creation is not what it should be. We're simply not going in the right direction.

Q.People say Colorado has become more blue. Do you believe that?

A. If you count noses, it's pretty obvious there are more Democrats elected now than there used to be. But when you see what happened with Amendment 66, you have to ask yourself, "Well, wait a minute, didn't they just throw that one back in the governor's face?" Sure they did. Colorado historically has been a little difficult to read, but I believe this is still kind of a common-sense electorate.

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